Former SAIT student on wanted list

A former SAIT student who allegedly left Canada to join and fight with ISIS is now on Interpol’s most wanted list, after being charged in absentia by the RCMP in September.

Farah Mohamed Shirdon, 22, was charged with six counts of terrorism charges:

•Leaving Canada to participate in the activity of a terrorist group

•Participation in the activity of a terrorist group

•Two charges of instructing a person to carrying out terrorist activity for the benefit of ISIS

•Two charges of commission of an indictable offence for a terrorist group

The RCMP reported Shirdon left Canada on March 14, 2014. There were some reports by media that he was killed in Syria in 2014, but the RCMP said those reports were not true.

Toronto-born Shirdon was a student in SAIT’s administrative information management program until 2012.

In April 2014, Shirdon was seen burning a passport in an ISIS released YouTube video. This video, with threats to Canada and the United States, is now in relation to one of the charges of committing an offence for a terrorist group.

The second charge of committing an offence is in relation to an interview with Vice Media in September 2014.

Another former SAIT student, Collin Gordon, left Canada in 2012 and is reported to be fighting in Syria but the RCMP has not charged him.